Car woes on hold

The burning grease smell from the axle has gone away. I called my dad (a mechanic) and he says as long as it drives OK then I can wait to replace the part. This is good news!

It saves me $150 today since I don't have to take it anywhere to get fixed. It can (hopefully) wait until he comes to visit again and we can do it ourselves. He comes up to Atlanta fairly regularly so it shouldn't be an issue.

It also saves me time and hassle of taking my car to the repair shop and picking it up. I will just hang onto the part just in case things get worse before he can visit again.

Win!

Car got hit while parked at work

Sometimes people surprise me. I came to work today just like any other. Parked my car and went into the office. I had to run to the company storage unit for some things and found a note under my wiper blade. Someone hit my car.

There was no major damage just a scrape on the rear bumper. I called the person that left the note and we agreed to work something out without involving insurance. Works for me since it is less paperwork and hassle for both of us. I like easy!

Now I have to get an estimate and actually collect. We'll see if she pulls through on her promise!

More car trouble!

My car strikes again. This week I went to go to work. Battery is dead. Great...

In the end I had to buy a new battery. I bought jumper cables first just in case but it was dead. I took it to Auto Zone where they test batteries for free. Once I got the bad news I bought a new battery and changed it myself in the parking lot. In the end I was 1.5 hours late for work.

I had to fork over around $150 to get my car running again. I guess I am happy that it was only the battery and not something more serious. Just seems like I have poured a lot of money into it recently. I am learning the costs of owning and older vehicle versus when it was now is a lot more!

Thankfully I have an repair fund for my car to cover smaller items like this one. It is never fun to deal with car problems but when you have a plan and savings in place it is a bit easier.

New Goal: Reach 300,000 miles in my Honda

I realized the other day that since my car has been paid off a few years now! This is a good thing but I basically have no savings toward a replacement car aside from a small $500 repairs fund. The average person keeps a car for about 10 years. With my recent car troubles I am analyzing my options. They are:

• Start a replacement car fund
• Beef up repairs fund for older car
• Ignore the problem and hope for the best

Obviously that last option really isn't one. It is more or less what I have been doing until a few days ago.I looked at the numbers and my budget is already pretty tight with higher priority goals so I am going for the second option. I will increase my emergency fund by 1 thousand and keep my old car as long as possible. I hope to get 300,000 miles from it. I have 98,000 as of today.

This is the most economical option for me at the moment. I would like a newer car sometime down the road but I certainly don't need it. With my work commute down to 1 mile per day plus trains I will be using it a lot less. I am saving money on both ends via less driving and not spending money on a newer car. Just another example of spending on what is truly important to you and skimping on the rest.

Car Problems Part 4: Resolution?

After two days of working on my car my Dad and I got my head gasket replaced. He did the majority of the work and it was quite a process. I bought him a nice dinner last night as a token of gratitude. He has been non-stop since he got here working on it.

Turns out the head gasket was blown. We did a lot of maintenance and tune up items to the car while we had it apart. I now have a new timing belt, new water pump, new thermostat, new serpentine belts, and several new hoses installed. These items needed to be replaced soon anyway so we did it all at once.

The car seems to be running OK now for the most part. It had some hesitations and issues when we first got it back together but I think it is better now. It was running funny but I think it needed to get the junk out of the system and now runs normally. I will be monitoring it for a couple weeks to be sure everything stays normal.

I hope this has resolved it. It has been a stressful situation for the past few weeks. It has also been quite expensive. I am glad my emergency fund was there to cover it because it would sure suck to have all this riding on my credit card!

Car Problems Part 3: Blown Head Gasket

I was running an errand today and my car started to overheat again. I was on a major freeway when it happened. This is obviously not the ideal place for this to happen. Luckily my Dad is a mechanic and he was able to talk me through limping my car back home.

We determined that I officially have a blown head gasket as the Honda dealer suspected. I was able to get my car back to my house without overheating again and without a tow truck. That easily saved me $150 or so at Atlanta towing prices.

Unfortunately this was in the middle of a busy work day. I ended up getting a rental car from the local Enterprise for $185 + fees for a week. This can get expensive real fast. My dad is coming up this weekend and he and I will begin the long job of replacing the head gasket. We will also do some other maintenance that is due soon since we will be working near those parts anyway.

I really hope this resolves the issue. I need this car to last me for at least another 100,000 miles so I can accumulate replacement car money for a few years. My job's office relocation will help a lot reducing my commute to 1 mile per day instead of around 30. My expenses will also drop!

Car Troubles Part 2: back on track!

I went to the Honda dealer this morning and I must say it was definitely worth the 45 minutes in traffic and 2 hour wait. I finally got a firm answer on my car. A hose was loose and leaking lots of coolant. They tightened the strap and now that has stopped.

A little bit of possible bad news is that I may have a blown head gasket. They showed me a test where air was getting into the system. This worries me but they said drive it a bit and see if it leaks out anymore. It could be a very minor hole and not an issue. So I will do that and see what happens.

I checked my coolant before leaving the office today and it looked full still. So far, so good. I will continue monitoring it daily for a week or so and go from there. If the gasket is an issue my dad said he will come up and fix it for me (he is a mechanic, 40 years in the biz). This saves me hundreds!

It is nice to have this finally figured out. Being on the side of the road putting in coolant every few days is not what I consider fun. 90% out of this mess!

How much is your car worth to a dealer?

Most people have no idea how much their car would be worth on a trade-in at a dealer. I have heard stories of purchasers getting far less than what it is worth from a dealer due to ignorance. This is sad but it does happen. Be sure to look it up before you trade in!

Kelly Blue Book gives trade-in values for cars free online. You look it up and be honest on it's mileage and condition and click on "Trade In Value" when prompted. You will instantly know if a dealer is trying to pull wool over your eyes. Print out the report from the website and have it with you.

Dealers use this number as most of them sell the car you trade in at auction to other dealers. They love to make a profit on selling you a car AND selling your old car too. They have their own "black book" that tells them what any car is worth based on mileage and condition. They know about what each car will bring at auction.

If you are in the market for a car do not leave money on the table! It is a big investment and you need to save every dollar you can. Knowledge is your best ally.